Are there more neo-Nazis in America than Jews?

Survey suggests neo-Nazis outnumber Jews by roughly 2-to-1 in the US - not including other white supremacists.

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David Rosenberg, 17/09/17 22:22

Neo-Nazi (file)

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How many Americans identify with white supremacist or neo-Nazi ideologies? According to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, the number is surprisingly high.

The survey, conducted in conjunction with the University of Virginia Center for Politics and published last week, surveyed 5,360 American adults for their views on radical movements in the US, including Antifa, neo-Nazism, Black Lives Matter, white nationalism, and the “Alt-Right”.

While each movement or ideology was only supported by a minority of American adults according to the poll, with a large majority opposing them, this minority sometimes translates into millions numerically.

The Antifa movement - a violent far-left group which has instigated riots targeting addresses by conservative speakers like Ben Shapiro, Ann Coulter, and Milo Yiannopoulos – has the backing of only eight percent of American adults. But out of a total US population of some 324 million, that’s equivalent to between 20 to 21 million adults.

White nationalists make up a similar proportion of the population, with 8% of respondents saying they backed white nationalism, compared to 65% who said they opposed it.

Even neo-Nazism appears to enjoy a surprisingly large following, with only four percent of American adults translating to more than 10 million people identifying with neo-Nazi ideology.

If the survey is accurate, self-identified neo-Nazis outnumber Jews by roughly two-to-one in the US, with some six million Americans identifying as Jewish, or about 1.9% of the total population (including children).

While membership in neo-Nazi organizations is low, with groups like the National Socialist Movement (NSM) boasting only a few hundreds of registered members, many of whom are inactive, other recent polling data tends to corroborate the Reuters/Ipsos survey’s findings.

In August, a Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that 9% of Americans find neo-Nazism and white supremacist views acceptable, compared to 83% who said such ideologies were unacceptable.